Research

Landscape Architecture (LA) has been linked together by numerous historical and contemporary connections and interdependencies across Europe and beyond. Its archives will now be used as a resource to create a comprehensive pan-European narrative of landscape history. The COST Action ‘Connecting Landscape Architecture Archives to enhance European landscape practice, research and education (ConnectLAA)’ will, for the first time, bring together information on the content of European LA archives and make it available worldwide on a digital platform. The involvement of different disciplines such as landscape architecture, cultural studies, art history, archival science, and IT will ensure that the highest scientific and technical standards are achieved in archival management, access, and cultural heritage preservation, and that the archives can be used as knowledge sources for innovative research and education. The focus will be on using advanced technologies to improve the quality, sustainability, use, and reuse of data. The mix of Proposers from different institutions and NGOs, the involvement of practitioners, and the development of innovative learning materials and a common thesaurus will ensure the promotion of promising careers and the development of groundbreaking international research projects that will support heritage agency and reveal previously undiscovered histories concerning places beyond Europe, addressing issues related to the migration and decolonization of collections. It is the basis for building a community of practice to continue to promote international access to data and support the creation of new archives and collections, particularly in ITCs, where the majority of the team are based.

The Danube Island and the New Danube, which were built between 1972 and 1988 to finally protect Vienna from flooding after centuries of struggling with the river, today form a landscape area that has become an integral part of the Viennese cityscape and fulfills central urban planning, natural and social functions. The exhibition at the Wien Museum sheds light on the complex and exciting history of the creation of this project, which is unique in its task and dimensions and - alongside Gas Works Park in Seattle, Munich's Olympic Park and Irchelpark in Zurich - is one of the icons of landscape architecture of the 1970s and 1980s. Particular attention is paid to the social and urban developments that significantly influenced the design and use of the island: the ecological and anti-nuclear power movement and the changing leisure behavior of the population, but also the construction of UNO-City, the collapse of the Reichsbrücke and the urban expansion on the left bank of the Danube contributed significantly to changes in the originally planned appearance of the island and the activities possible there today. The aim of the exhibition is not only to convey the historical significance of this major project, but also to highlight the central role of the Danube Island for flood protection, urban planning, leisure and recreation as well as ecology and nature conservation in the 21st century against the backdrop of population growth and climate change.

Vienna's urban landscape changed fundamentally in the second half of the 20th century. Under the programmatic slogan “social green”, numerous parks, open spaces for educational institutions and outdoor areas for multi-storey residential buildings were created in Vienna from 1950 onwards. In the 1970s to 1990s, international competitions were organized (e.g. Karlsplatz), large-scale new recreational spaces were created (e.g. Danube area, Wienerberg), play streets were laid out and rivers (e.g. Liesingbach) were renatured. Today, these projects represent key elements in the green space system of the City of Vienna. The Archive of Austrian Landscape Architecture LArchive preserves thousands of analogue plans and photos of these projects. The stock of plans and photos represents a unique cultural heritage, but has so far only been available in analogue form. As part of this project, high-quality digital copies of plans and photos documenting the planning and design of Vienna's open spaces from the second half of the 20th century will be produced and published in an online collection. The thus generated data will form an essential basis for the evaluation and further development of urban green structures in the context of national and international research projects and - at Viennese level - for the revision of the STEP 2025 urban development plan. At the same time, the archival material will be made accessible to a broad audience of scientists, teachers, colleagues from the field, local authorities, art historians and citizens via the online collection. The data will be transferred to the online platform for Austria's cultural heritage and to Europeana. Publication of the digitised material will raise the profile of the Archive of Austrian Landscape Architecture and the impact of the profession.